26. The Power of Purpose 

As our regulars know, I’m not one to wax poetically. I am a fairly plain, down to earth communicator. So naming this piece, The Power of Purpose is somewhat out of character.  

In this case, it says exactly what I want it to say.  

Don’t ever underestimate the power, the multiplying effect of the benefit of how you feel when you are doing something. When you are feeling positive about what you are doing, the impact on your productivity and results can be astounding.  

This brings us to the Power Of Purpose. When you have a clearly defined purpose, when your goals are articulated and focused, it is during these times when you will reap the maximum benefits.  

When you are in the “groove “, when you are firing on all cylinders, it is during these times that we all do our best work. Work towards finding that clarity of purpose.  

These times of focus, increased productivity, clearly defined direction do not happen by chance.  

You are in the process of getting the tools that will enable you to find those times of” super charged time “Just another example of why Time Management isn’t a destination but a journey.  

27 Conference Calls 

This is fast cheap way to get a few, a lot of people together and save a lot of time on travel. The rules for holding face-to-face meetings still apply for conference call. 

Just because you are saving, time in one area is not a reason to squander it in another.  

I use conference calls even when the participants are close by, I find I can move a conference call along faster and end it on time without the usual hanger oners that you get in a face-to-face meeting. 

28.     It Does Not Always Have To Be Perfect   

A lot of prime productive time is unnecessarily spent on making task perfect when good or acceptable is all that is required.  

An internal document going to two co-workers can have the odd spelling mistake in the document without the sky falling down.  

A report can be two pages long and still be effective instead of a 7-page dissertation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood over some ones desk and said, that will be fine, that is good enough only to be told they have to put some totally unnecessary finishing touch.  

You need to work out with the people you work with your own form of short hand when it comes to this area. 

My standard comment is. “it does not have to be a masterpiece “that is the signal to get it done but that is it. No bells, no whistles, just the facts. 

Another trick to getting this point across is to ask for a job with a deadline attached to it, a deadline that sends the signal that you have to get this job done within this time frame and it has to be squeezed in there. 

Open-ended delivery projects invite extra work to be done where none is necessary. 

Communication is important in this area. 

Working with the same people over a period of time is helpful as long as you are aware of the pitfalls in this area and have been working toward getting the frills and perfectionism out of those tasks that do not warrant it. 

Since I’ve brought up perfectionists, I will mention briefly that people who like to announce themselves as perfectionist are just setting up those around them    for a    pre ordain    “ reason “ why they won’t be able to ever get anything to you on time. 

Beware of this “reason, “it is just a fall back position for a lack of purpose and desire to get things done. 

Dithering on one project is not a reason for not getting on with a productive day.  

   29. E-mails 

I spend a lot of time in other areas on e-mails so I will make this brief. 

E-mails are evil. There I’ve said it. I’m officially a weirdo.  

 Emails destroy people’s productivity. 

If there was ever a technology that has advanced as well as dammed us, e-mails are it. The average person checks there emails 20, 30 50 times or more each day. 

That’s insanity.  

Do you know what is worse than checking your emails 3 or more times a day, it’s thinking about checking your emails that many times and not doing it. 

Either way it destroys and cripples any reasonable flow you may get in a day. 

Its additive and a lot of us just do it out of habit. It’s a habit that costs you minutes a day in actual time and much more in time wasted in stopping and starting tasks.  

It would not be unreasonable to say that in an average day, up to an hour of prime productive time is wasted in servicing our email addiction. If you are checking your email more than 3 times in a day, you are wasting time.  

    30. When To Schedule Meetings  

When you schedule meetings has a great deal to do with how productive they are. First and foremost, when you schedule your meetings, they should be when you will be at your best and when you feel that you will accomplish the most, after all it’s your meeting. 

There are two quick considerations, time of the day, and the day it’s self.  

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, are the worse days to hold a meeting, starting with Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday.  

The longer people see themselves having in the meeting, the les they will get done, the less motivated they are to get things done.  

The best days to hold a meeting is Thursday, followed by the best day, Friday. 

You will get more done on these days because , yes people may be gearing for the weekend but you can counter that with, if we don’t get it done now, when will we get it done. 

You have to ride a little harder on Thursday or Friday but they are the best days to have them.  

Another problem with holding meetings at the beginning of the week is that a lot of time is wasted in chitchat about what happened on the weekend, even among strangers.  

There is also the factor of getting back into the groove and work mentality after a few days off. 

On Thursday and Friday, if they are not in the business groove by now, you have a problem on your hands. 

Time is straightforward. My sales meetings are always late on Friday. We get a lot done in a short period of time.  

Monday morning sales meeting ALWAYS go over time, always have way too much chitchat are never as productive as the late Friday afternoon meetings. 

Those by the way, always end on time. 

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